


Mutual Chemistry

by DatGirlSuzie



Series: Rainbow Six: University [3]
Category: Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six (Video Games)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Coffee, M/M, Rook is panicking, Slow Burn, Studying
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-06
Updated: 2019-08-06
Packaged: 2020-08-10 14:21:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,110
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20136865
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DatGirlSuzie/pseuds/DatGirlSuzie
Summary: Marius helps Julien, the universe rewards him in an unexpected way.





	Mutual Chemistry

**Author's Note:**

  * A translation of [Química Mutua](https://archiveofourown.org/works/20131213) by [DatGirlSuzie](https://archiveofourown.org/users/DatGirlSuzie/pseuds/DatGirlSuzie). 

> This is the English version since a lot of people can't read Spanish. I hope you guys like it! As usual, Rosallora made turned a half-assed fic concept into something actually worth posting and I can't thank her enough!

Studying for exams is never fun. Well, being forced to stay up late every night reading a textbook you haven’t touched in ages in hopes of being able to answer every convoluted question your professor asks sounds like hell to many, but to Marius, there’s no better way to spend his time. He loves learning, and despite being able to ace every single test with minimal effort, he sits in the library for hours on end memorizing formulas he could do in his sleep anyway. It was his passion, and that’s what set him apart. The effort was something his professors could see.

This night is no different. After leaving the cafeteria where he sat with the Russians — who spent the last two hours working on ASL and teaching him a couple curse words in their native tongue — Marius made a beeline for the university library. Planning to go over practice questions until he passed out in the twenty-four-hour section, he waved to the librarian and started his trip up the six flights of stairs. Anything to head off the freshman fifteen – or… junior fifteen. It didn’t really matter what year you were in, a cafeteria buffet was still a cafeteria buffet. Once he reached the top, Marius looked around the floor, checking how crowded it was. A few people he knew chatting were silently chatting in the corner, but besides that it was fairly empty. Marius didn’t mind if other people were there, but he found silence was the most conductive for studying. Finding an empty study room, the German set down his stuff ready to tackle the few calculus problems he needed to complete for tomorrows homework.

He had just cracked open the textbook when he hears a sniffle from the room next to his. Pausing for a moment, Marius waited to see if he’d hear another sniffle or if it was just his imagination. A few seconds of silence pass, and Jäger assumes he had just imagined it. Shrugging to himself, he continued to unpack his things when he heard it a second time. ‘If it was real, it must be another freshman struggling through their first final.’ He thought to himself, remembering when Dominic was the same way. Although the German wouldn’t admit it, he practically begged Marius to help him with his Physics final, pretending to be oblivious to the tear stains, the engineering student was happy to help.

It wasn’t hard to help him, Jäger had already taken — and aced — the class. It was also a great reason to break out his notes, which of course he’d never gotten rid of. Marius liked to think that this was all applicable, stuff that he’d look back on and use. Looking back, Marius laughed at Dominic’s expression when he took out his binder worth of notes that looked like a trilogy compared to Dom’s seven pages of half-assed problems and scribbles. Nevertheless, he helped the other German pass. Should he try to help this unknown person? Jäger looked at the clock for answers.

If he helped now, he’d still have five hours to work on his own work. But he wasn’t even sure if the person wanted help. It wasn’t until he heard the person next door’s phone go off that he got his answer. A voice answered and Marius instinctively leaned into the wall, wanting to hear what was going on. The person on the other side of the call must have been talking because it was silent for a few moments.

“Dammit, Gustave. I have my test in two hours!” A deep voice with a French accent could be heard through the walls. “I know, I know. I’m sorry for snapping. I’m just… stressed. I know you have clinicals and you’re stressed too. Just try to get here when you can. Sorry again.” There were a few seconds of silence before an audible sigh could be heard. Deciding there would be no harm in asking if the person needed help, Marius grabbed his bag and made his way over.

Rapping his knuckles on the wooden door, Jäger questioned if his actions were going to be interpreted weirdly, since he did just eavesdrop on the stranger’s conversation. But he didn’t have much time to stew over his decision as a mere second later the door was opened. Marius was met with a thick mop of brown hair and a tearstained face. Expecting a sight like this, he just awkwardly drummed his fingers on his notebook.

“I overheard you in the next room and was wondering if there was anything I could do to help.” Sounded neutral enough. Not too stalkerish, which was needed if he didn’t want to be looked at as a creep. The man seemed to express a mixture of relief and surprise, his eyebrows raising and grip on his phone loosening slightly. Seeming unsure if he should take Marius up on the offer to help, or to say he’s fine and close the door. He chose the former option.

“I… uhh, yeah, I need help. Sorry, I didn’t realize others could hear me.” Pink tinted his cheeks, embarrassed that his panic could have been heard by the whole floor. “I’m working on organic chemistry. Can you help with that?” Great, something Jäger could help with.

“I love Orgo! I tutored it last semester!” He tried not to let his excitement bleed into his voice too much but failed. It was one of his favorite subjects and he loved working through the problems. The equations were simple to understand and once you got the concepts, you were set. As he stepped into the room, thinking of all the different example problems he could ask, Marius saw the small pile of tissues in the corner of the desk. Ok. So this kid really is freaking out.

“Yeah, well it’s the bane of my existence right now.” He must have followed Jäger’s line of sight as he stiffened and quickly moved the discarded tissues into the small waste bin on the other side of the room. “Gen chem was way easier, and now I’m practically failing orgo.” He motioned to the other chair across from his own. “Also, I forgot to introduce myself. I’m Julien.”

Marius smiled and took a seat before responding. “Marius. And what seems to be the trouble? A specific formula? Equation?” Internally, he was super excited. Ready to revisit the notes and all the fun he had last year, just like he had for Dominic. Externally, however, the German made sure to sound normal and reasonable. He didn’t want to scare Julien by seeming over-enthusiastic.

“Honestly. Everything.” As he said this, the Frenchman let out a deep sigh, as if he was admitting his failure to the whole world. “I have a final in less than two hours and I’m so fucked. Every equation is mixed up in my brain and I-” a small shake rattles his body “I don’t know what to do. I can’t believe I’ve fucked it all up this bad. I can’t fail this class.” Marius realized that if he didn’t intervene immediately, Julien was probably going to have a panic attack.

“Hey, it’s ok. We’ll start from the beginning and work through as many problems and units as we can.” As he said this, the German started rummaging through his backpack. His notebook for the class was in his room. Shit, of course. Of course it was. He didn’t take Orgo anymore. “Or – I mean we’ll have to be a bit more efficient. We’ll just go through the big concepts from the last quarter, since that’s more likely to be on it than concepts from the first. And if we have some extra time, we’ll do some of the earlier ones.” He ducks out to the doorway, starting down the stairs. He calls up as politely as he can, “How far’s your exam room from here?”

“It’s in Thomas,” Julien says, looking over the stairwell. “Where are you going?”

“To get my notebook! Stay there!”

There was a “SHUT THE FUCK UP” shouted from a lower level, and Marius winced. But it was motivation enough to get down, get to his room, rifle through his things, get his notebook, and dash back across campus and to the library.

Notably, Julien was looking a bit better now that someone else was in control of the situation, less pale as he sat down at his desk. It was touching, in fact. Someone going through all this trouble, just to help him. And in a few minutes, there was a tromping up the stairs, and Marius threw himself back into the room, a notebook in tow. The German pants, then puts a finger up. “It’s only a seven minute walk to Thomas from here. It’s…” he looks at the clock. With a dash, he’s into his room and one of the bottom drawers of his desk, pulling out a red spiral notebook. The door closes as he goes back out, sitting down quickly in the chair at Julien’s desk. “We’ll do this for an hour and a half, then… well. I always go to the bathroom before an exam.”

“Smart… hadn’t thought about that,” Julien replies. “But. It might just keep me from shitting my pants during.”

With a laugh, Marius opened up his old notebook, and the two got to work.

* * *

Julien closes the notebook, sighing deeply. His pen clatters to the desk. “I think that’s all I can handle. My brain feels congested.”

“Take it step by step when you get there,” Marius coaches, taking his notebook from the desk. The papers that had gotten scribbled on were strewn over the desk, formulas and concepts facing the bare ceiling of the study room. “Just don’t panic.”

“Easy for you to say,” Julien says, picking up his own bag. “You’re a genius.”

Marius can’t help but blush, then waves it off lightly. “No. Trust me, I’m not. I just… really like studying.”

Julien cracked a smile, but it was unsure whether it was because he thought Marius was joking altogether, or because the idea of someone loving to study was just that ridiculous.

“And I keep calm!” Marius adds. “I know what I’m doing. I have confidence in myself. You knew a lot of the stuff we went over, as soon as I mentioned things you could add on your own thoughts – it’s clear that you do know it. You just have to give yourself the time to do it well.”

The other boy paused, then nodded at Marius’ words. He breathed, and tightened his hands momentarily on his shoulder bag. “You’re right,” he says. “You are. I just have to do it.”

Marius gave him a reassuring smile. “Here. I’ll walk you out.”

Julien paused at the elevator, but after a bit of a pointed gesture from Marius, he’s pressured into taking the stairs. They’re as quiet as they can manage, not wanting to disturb anyone who was still studying – like Marius would be in a few minutes. At the entrance, they stand shoulder to shoulder, looking at the lamplight.

“I can do this,” Julien murmurs.

“You can.”

The Frenchman turns to him, looking at a loss for words for a moment. He looks like he’s going to say something, and Marius leans just a bit forward in anticipation to hear it, but it never comes out. Julien steps back, down a stair and then just… waves.

“Thanks!” He says over his shoulder. “I won’t forget this, I promise.”

Marius leans up against the railing leading up to the library, feeling rather content with his work. Being a tutor was never a thankless job, at least the habit had that going for it. Even if the man hadn’t offered to pay him anything. Which, really, he expected. They were both broke college students, after all. No one had money. And if they had money, it was already reserved for coffee.

Speaking of… he could go for some.

A man starts running up the stairs to the library, looking completely afluster. He stops, looking at Marius with wide eyes, black hair akimbo. “Hey – uh. You haven’t seen a French boy freaking out about an orgo final, have you? He hasn’t walked out here?”

Marius shifts his posture immediately. “Actually, yes? Julien?”

“Where is he?” The man pulled his jacket a bit more closely about himself. Though the days had been warming up, winter still liked to try and claim some of the days back from spring. It always ended up being on the worst days for it – exam days especially included.

Marius cringes. “You actually just missed him. He went over to Thomas for his exam about five minutes ago.”

The man sags against the railing, looking at the sky like it was going to forgive him for whatever sin he’d committed. Odds are this was the other person on the phone that Julien had been talking to. He’d run over here last minute to reassure his friend. That was really sweet of him. Even if he ended up being just a few minutes too late.

“Shit…”

“Don’t worry!” Marius is quick to reassure him, “I actually- I was tutoring him. Last minute. I did orgo a while ago and he looked pretty upset. So I ran and got my stuff and we studied for a while. He looked alright when he went to the exam, I promise. You don’t have anything to worry about.”

“Really?” The man sighs with relief, then draws himself back up. “In that case, I think I definitely owe you one. I’m Gustave.”

“Marius.”

Gustave takes his hand. “Marius. It’s nice to meet you. Julien’s my friend, but he gets himself all worked up. Especially about his grades.”

“It’s definitely the time of year for a mental breakdown,” Marius laughs. “You know: Flowers blooming, finals, looming."

Gustave looked impressed. “I haven’t heard that before.”

“Well good, I just… made it up.”

He laughs. “Well it’s good.” Gustave lets go of his hand – Marius realizes he never really shook it, he just let him kind of hold it for a few seconds. Awkwardly. Great. Marius stuffs his hands back into his pockets, leaning onto his heels as he searches for a new conversation topic. What was he going to ask? What could he ask? Could he ask about Julien? Would it be rude to ask about him? What if Gustave thought he was cute too?

“Hey,” Gustave says, saving him from the embarrassment of doing the usual back and forth dance of what-I-study, what-you-study, “Are you busy?”

“I mean I have an exam but it’s not for another five or so hours. I have time to burn. And I’m not in Julien’s situation.”

“You mean you actually take your time and learn what you need to in class instead of rushing at the end like a damned fool? What a relief.” Gustave starts walking, looking back at him. “Let’s get some coffee.”

Marius is quick to go down the stairs with the other student, and they make their way across campus together. It was pleasant, the grass finally starting to grow in full. The sky was mostly clear, though that only made the slight, chilly wind all the more apparent. Marius digs his hands a bit further into his pockets, running into a few old receipts and paperclips.

Some leaves from the fall are still lingering, crunching under their feet. Despite the snowfall, they’ve crisped back up at first opportunity, and Marius takes a bit of small joy in hearing the sound.

“Enjoying yourself?”

He looks up and Gustave is clearly amused. The German straightens himself out and coughs into a fist, as if that’d explain the signature crunching sound his shoes had made. The Frenchman simply raises his eyebrows, repeating the question nonverbally.

“Maybe.”

“Nothing wrong with simple pleasures,” he shrugs, smiling. “I haven’t played around in autumn leaves in a long time. But I do remember raking them all up and hurling myself into them. Simpler times.”

“Simpler times,” Marius laughs, “I feel like everyone has a story like that. We all like to pretend we’re all old and gray. Why do we do that?”

Gustave sighs. “It’s the suffering Olympics, to an extent. I feel so old, I feel so worn down… I took an extra class this semester, I’m doing an unpaid internship – we’re all desperate. And the more we work, the more we get the feeling we’re worthy of validation. But it’s not true.”

“I wish it was,” Marius says. He nudges an acorn with his foot as they walk on by. “Not because I’m wanting to work myself to the bone, I just wish that everyone got what they deserved when they put so much effort in. People do things all the time without the expectation of reward. There’s so many – like my friend, he’s learning sign language just to be able to better communicate with one of our classmates. And I helped Julien just because he needed it, and I was there. I wish the world gave that back. I wish I had the power to give that back, if the world won’t do it.”

The Frenchman finds himself staring just a moment too long, and picks up the pace to get out of the slightly slushy green area and onto the bricks. “I can’t do much,” he admits. “But I can do this.” Gustave opens the door to the campus center where the café was located. “Monsieur.”

Marius laughs lightly, but he can’t help the slight warmth that fills him with the gesture. “Thanks.”

“Least I can do since you took care of Julien in his time of need – and the world won’t give it back to you, so you say. You have no idea how much I appreciate it.”

Marius smiles to himself. “How about the largest size latte they have? Do you appreciate it that much?”

“Big spender,” Gustave catches his gaze out of his peripherals, and they see each other, peeking. Wondering. It’s a question unanswered, something left for the nuances of conversation. But it seems that they’ll get to have that talk. But even without it, there was something there, something palpable, that couldn’t be put into words. Or perhaps it could. But Marius and Gustave both didn’t know the right ones. Probably because of all the studying. Yeah. That was why. “…Sure. Yes, Marius. I appreciate it exactly that much.”

“Exactly that much?”

“Not a penny more,” he intones. “Unless you want vanilla in it.”

Marius smiles. “Well then. Allow me to test the limits of your charity.”

“By all means.”


End file.
